Howard P. McKeon: “History tells us that the states created the federal government.”

The QDR is meant to be a useful tool for Congress to understand the longer-term strategic challenges and opportunities facing the Department.

If it only leads to a justification of programs in the budget, then both the Department and Congress have lost a major opportunity.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

From Aleppo in western Syria to Fallujah in central Iraq, Al Qaeda now controls territory that stretches more than 400 miles across the heart of the Middle East.